ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF LIGHTING UP CHRISTMAS!!

I originally published this in 2013 and am reposting in today.
One cannot get enough of Christmases past.


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Taunton Green was placed on The National Register in 1985.

Taunton's Green, or Common as it was called,  factored centrally in Taunton's life since Taunton's founding in 1637.  First it was a place to graze cattle and roster the troops. In  1914 it began its story of a spectacle of light and hope at Christmastide. 

 Below is one of the first Christmas Green photographs taken in 1925 from the wonderful book "80 years of Christmas in Taunton: Candles on the Green." released in 1994.  A new one is available celebrating 100 years this year of 2013.  Once again, Charlie Crowley and Dr. William Hanna renew our memories and knowledge of this Taunton treasure.  I have added the framework to give it a nostalgic touch for this post.  

In the next photo taken in 1936, the theme was The Spirit of Taunton recalling the famous Lindberg flight  with a plane at center on a multi-colored globe painted by Frank Taylor.  "The airplane's registration number, shown on its tail, was 593, which happened to be the telephone number of the TMLP."  The Christmas displays each year would mirror the times in which they occurred, in peace and in war. You can see the plane glowing above the globe.

My husband was nine years old that year and recalls this display.  His family made the trek from Swansea each year to see the Green.  He remembers, as do so many Tauntonians, the wonderful arches that so often graced the Christmas Green.

Last Christmas in this blog we followed the Green over the World War II years when blackout rules did not allow for lights and Taunton with the country worried over the safety of its sons and daughters. The romance of my Aunt Alveda and Uncle Ziggy provided a personal pictorial framework for us.

In 1949,  then Mayor ]ohn Parker wrote an article about the meaning of the Green.  A good friend, Louise Foster who grew up in Taunton, shared this photo of the Green that same year.  As so often happened, a blanket of snow covered all.  War was over and the nation was starting to dig itself out. 

This past weekend, on Dec. 7th, Taunton, The Christmas City celebrated 100 years of lighting Christmas up for its people and those from miles around. With its celebratory hat on the City bloomed with venues of wonderful entertainment .  There was even a human Christmas tree in which 982 people participated and broke the Guiness Book of Records!!  Taunton went for it!!

Thanks to Micaila Britto-Patten and the TMLP bucket truck for this awesome photo of this year's

Christmas lighting from I'm From Taunton Facebook page.

One hundred years of living through the ups and downs of so many struggling New England cities, and still our little city shows its spirit! That spirit it demonstrated in the American Revolution, through the Civil War and the terrible wars that followed.  Lights on the Green led us on, even when it would have needed candlelight.  May those lights get even brighter and our birth city pull itself up and onward!

What is wonderful about all of our Christmas Greens is the fact that there has always been a Nativity scene somewhere on them.  Take the one below from 1947 (picture found on the Net) which prominently displays the Nativity right in the center of the Green.  Even this year one was included. Taunton has never forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.

You can easily find a lot of interesting photos and information on this year's Taunton Green Christmas celebration online:  Taunton Daily Gazette as well as with photos and information shared so well on I'm From Taunton Facebook page.

To read my posts from last Christmas about the Green please go to 2012 posts on the right of the blog, then find December 19th and 21st.  Thanks.

                       Thank you to Kathleen Campanirio for her assistance with this post.